Textile spool end



April 1959 R. ATwon ETAL 2,883,124

I 1 TEXTILE SPOOL E D Filed Feb. 25, 1955 I INVZNTIOR @524 sf United States Patent TEXTILE SPOOL END Rawson Atwood, Rumson, and Charles C. LAllemand, Murray Hill, N.J., assignors to Decorated Metal Mfg. Co., Inc., Milltown, NJ., a corporation of New York Application February 25, 1955, Serial No. 490,610

2 Claims. (Cl. 242118.3)

This invention relates to textile spools, and more particularly to end caps for use therewith, to provide a smooth and renewable or replaceable surface over which the fiber may be drawn off by the throwster or other user.

In present practice, removable end caps provided with springs for gripping the end of a spool are utilized, being applied to the spool end preliminary to drawing off the yarn or fiber, and thereafter being taken off and reused until damaged or deteriorated to a point where they are no longer serviceable. In some cases, the spools used for shipping packages are provided with end fittings, eliminating need of these separate caps, but this expedient involves the discarding or refinishing of the spool itself in the event of nicking or other damage to the end over which the yarn is drawn off.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved spool end cap capable of replaceable application to the spool itself, or of repeated use in connection with spools having no such caps when shipped.

It has been found that by suitably molding and shaping a simple plastic ring, an end cap of entirely satisfactory performance and extremely low cost may be provided. It has also been found that relatively inexpensive plastic of only moderate resiliency or elasticity may be used to good advantage, and is, in fact, superior for this purpose to more resilient and more expensive materials.

A cap structure embodying the invention in a preferred form will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, and the features forming the invention will then be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a fragmentary side elevation, partly broken away, and showing the cap of the invention as applied to a spool;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the structure of Fig.1; and

Fig. 3 is a very much enlarged section in an axial plane, showing the configuration of the end cap of Figs. 1 and 2.

The spool is the flangeless type so far as the end in question is concerned. It has a barrel 11 which may be surfaced with paper, wood, any of various plastics, or, in fact, any desired material. In the spool which is used for purposes of illustration, an end fitting 12 of sheet metal is provided, this fitting being cylindrical at its upper part 13 but rolled into the barrel 11 as at 14 so as to have a tapered configuration. The upstanding end wall 15 of the barrel and fitting surrounds a generally depressed area 16 within which is the usual area 17 to take an identifying disc and an opening 18 to accommodate a spindle.

The end cap 20 is generally cylindrical as at 21, but is curled or spun inwardly at its outer end 22 to form a rounded nose of annular form capable of fitting over and receiving the barrel end 15. At is inner end, the member 20 is curled inwardly through 180 or slightly more, as indicated at 23, to form an annular barrel gripping portion or skirt 24, which by reason of the inward curling has considerable spring. Preferably, the curl is carried around in the axial plane so as to form a'doubly curved surface both above and below the line of contact with the barrel, the convex engaging surface facilitating attachment and removal and also imparting desirable spring to the structure. The cap is applied to the spool or tube by forcing it over the end thereof, the barrel gripping portion 24 expanding sutficiently to permit this, and thereafter snapping back into place so as firmly to grip the barrel. When the cap is pushed all the way down onto the spool, as far as it will go, its upper end portion 20 is held firmly against the end of the barrel.

The end ring of the invention is conveniently made of plastic and, in particular, thermoplastic material. Acrylonitrile resin rubber molding compound of the type commonly sold under the trade-name Kralastic is found very suitable. The material is available in. extruded tubing and the rings are conveniently manufactured from such tubing by cutting off desired lengths and curling the ends to the form shown with the use of heated dies. The curling equipment is conventional and readily obtainable and the operating cycle is fast, so that production cost of the ring is very low. By comparison with end rings or redraw caps now in use, the equally serviceable end ring of the invention may be produced at a cost amounting to 10% or even less. While the extruded tubing which forms the starting material for making the ring may be subject to considerable variation, such variation, in so far as it affects the outside diameter over which the yarn is drawn, is trivial, and it does not affect the fit of the end ring, since the fit points are the curl 24 which is automatically, accurately positioned by the curling operation and the line of engagement 25 at the end of the barrel. It will be observed that the ring in general between its ends is spaced outwardly from the barrel, as indicated at 26.

While shown as applied to a spool having an end fitting of somewhat greater diameter than the spool barrel generally, the ring of the invention may also be used with spools in which the barrel extends to the end without any increase in diameter, or in which the barrel end is slightly tapered or reduced in diameter. It will be seen that the fit along line 25 is automatic, a difference in spool barrel diameter at the end merely changing slightly the extent to which the ring is pushed on before it is.

firmly seated. A slight difference in the axial positioning of the ring is not of importance, so that the ring of the invention provides an accurately fitting unwinding surface at minimum expense.

The rings may be snapped on and removed from the spools with the fingers and may be used and reused repeatedly, until nicked or otherwise damaged. The cost of the ring is so low that reprocessing of a damaged ring will ordinarily not be found economical, such reprocessing by grinding or otherwise may be done wherever warranted by service conditions.

While the acrylonitrile resin rubber molding compound referred to above is preferred, other plastics having similar or superior physical properties may be utilized, the selection being principally a matter of convenience and economy of molding cycle and economic considerations in general. As will be apparent from the published data (eg Plastics Catalogue Corp. annual charts), styrene copolymer compounds of the shock resistant or high impact type are suitable. The principal considerations, apart from economy, are, of course, modulus of elasticity, impact strength, surface hardness and general surface characteristics, so that any of an already large and increasing number of polymers and copolymers are available.

What is claimed is:

I. In a textile spool, and in combination, a barrel substantially flangelessat one end, and an end cap pressure fitted thereon, the said end cap comprising a curled over outer end forming a yarn guiding surface and a curled in inner endforming a reversed ibarrel engaging skirt, the-said, skirt-having a convex surface engaging'the barrel, possessing sufiicient resiliency topermit pressing over the end. of the barrel and gripping the same with elfective holding pressure.

2. Inza textile spool, and in combination, a barrel substantially fiangeless at one end, and an end cap pressure fitted thereon, the said end cap comprising a curled over outer end forming a yarn guiding outer surface and barrel engaging inner surface, and a curled in inner end forming. a reversed barrel engaging skirt, the said skirt 4 having a convex surface engaging the barrel, possessing suflicient resiliency to permit pressing over the end of the barrel and gripping the same with effective holding pressure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,104,325 Stewart July 21, 1914 10 2,659,547 Broadbent et al Nov. 17, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 320,640 Great Britain Oct. 18, 1929 816,468 France May 3, 1937 

